One way that Politicians utilize social media is by utilizing people who already have a platform on social media. It's a lot easier to reach an audience when the audience already exists. In my previous post, "Social Media Utilized for Vaccination Efforts", I used the example of President Biden collaborating with Instagram user @dudewithsign and this is a great example of what I'm discussing today.
In July of 2021, Pop Star Olivia Rodrigo made an appearance at the White House under the Biden administration to promote vaccinations. At the time of her appearance, she was only 18 years old and had already released her debut album which was met with wild success. Being so young, her music attracted those of the same demographic, so she was very influential in youth culture. "Healthy young adults are historically hard to reach, and the White House has been upfront about the difficulties that officials have faced in persuading those groups to receive a vaccine." (Rogers, 2021). Taking this information into account, I think it was a smart move by the Biden administration to have someone like Olivia who has such an influence on the youth speak about vaccinations.
Another great example of Celebrities being utilized for political media is the example of Kanye West meeting then-President Donald Trump. In October of 2018, rapper Kanye West made an appearance at the White House to speak with the President on a variety of issues. While I'm sure there were meaningful conversations had at this meeting, I also have no doubts that this was also a political stunt used to bring attention to Trump's work as a President by using Kanye's large influence.
Sources:
Rogers, K. (2021, July 14). At the White House, Olivia Rodrigo says vaccines are “good 4 U.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/14/us/politics/olivia-rodrigo-biden-vaccines.html
Zaru, D., & Phelps, J. (2018, October 11). Kanye West during Trump meeting at White House: “If he don’t look good, we don’t look good.” ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/kanye-west-meet-trump-white-house/story?id=58433020
I love the example of Olivia Rodrigo coming to the White House to promote vaccinations as it is the epitome of politicians using social media to their favor. You correctly highlight that this is a smart way to engage the youth in political issues through something they find interesting like music or a specific celebrity. It is a win-win situation for both the President in office and the celebrity because who wouldn't want the honor of going to the White House to speak?
ReplyDeleteAs both an avid music listener and a political student, this blog post was very interesting to me! Both Olivia Rodrigo and Kanye West have utilized their platforms in similar ways in order to perpetuate their own political goals. For Rodrigo, it was the vaccine and for Kanye, it was prison reform. I am also interested in what ways celebrities will influence politics in the future.
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